Turkey’s World Cup return clouded by politics, dawn kickoffs
Turkey finally has the World Cup moment it waited 24 years for, but much of the country will either be asleep for it or arguing over efforts to claim it.
ANKARA — Turkey’s first World Cup appearance in more than two decades could have been an easy national feel-good story in a deeply polarized country. Instead, its return has begun under the shadow of politics and the tyranny of the clock.
As the country prepares for its opening match against Australia on Sunday, the mood has yet to match the scale of the moment, dampened by dawn kickoff times and a ruling-party campaign video that has turned the national team’s long-awaited return into another political fight.
Turkey is back at the World Cup for the first time since 2002, when the national team stunned the tournament by finishing third, the country’s best-ever result.
Turkey will face Australia on Sunday, Paraguay next Saturday and co-host the United States on June 26. In another time, the events might have set off a wave of public excitement in a country where major sporting successes become rare moments of collective release.
